Speaker #0Hello everyone, welcome back to Relax With Animal Facts. I am Steff Wolf, and today I am going to be learning with you about our furry, scaly, or possibly even slimy friends. And in today's case, it is actually going to be a f- feathery friend of ours because we are covering the oh so wonderful secretary bird. This of course is a very special listener episode dedicated to Cameron, Jill, and to Mama Wolf. Believe it or not It has taken me over 200 episodes to finally do a request from... my very own mother. I am very happy to say that Momo Wolf has been following the show from the very beginning, so we have to make this episode extra special. If you would like to request an animal for a future episode, you can do so by going to relaxwithanimalfacts.com and clicking on the animal request. tab. I have said from I think the very beginning of this show that this is a show for you and by you. So if you have an animal request, please send it in. And if you haven't sent one in in a while, go ahead and do so. There is no limit to how many animals you can request. I suppose within reason. If you are just going A to Z in an animal encyclopedia, probably not the best idea, but I always love to see your animal requests and kind reviews coming in. If you would like intro-free and extended versions of episodes, along with exclusive episodes every month, you can go to patreon.com slash relaxwithanimalfacts. You can get all of that exclusive content all while supporting me. The show is not free to make and produce. There are a lot of costs in the background, so I seriously appreciate all of your support. A last shout out to George Vlad for his very important audio work that allows us to use ambiances and visit all kinds of places on our planet. His work is linked in the description and I encourage you to check him out. And now, the part that all of you have been waiting for, it is time to wind down. If this is your first ever episode, I would like to welcome you to the Animal Podcast family with open arms. I am so happy that you took time to join us on today's adventure and I sincerely hope you enjoy it. If you are a returning listener, welcome back. This show wouldn't be the same without you. You also know that I have three primary exhortations for you. before we go on our adventure. My first exhortation to you is to put on a pair of hiking or running shoes. We are certainly going to be needing those for where we are going today. My second exhortation to you is to realize where you carry tension and to do your best to let it go. This is typically very personal to you. If you're listening with somebody else, you might well find that they carry tension in their shoulders, but maybe for you, you carry tension in your head or your neck. But regardless of where you carry your tension, my exhortation to you is the same. Do your best to relax whatever it is. On Relax With Animal Facts, we are experts at becoming jello. If you think about Jell-O, at least Jell-O that is made well, it doesn't really have any tension. It can just break apart completely. It really only has enough tension just to hold itself together. And that is what we want to do. I want you to give me your best Oscar award-winning impression of Jell-O. You can choose a flavor or a color, maybe green, red, I don't know if they have purple jello, but whatever your imagination can conjure, you can pick that color or flavor. But we are trying to give a performance that would outshine Timothy Chalamet, Meryl Streep, any actor or actress you can think of. It is Also possible that you don't know where you carry tension, which is totally okay. I have an exercise for you. In our minds, we can start from the very tippy top of our head and work our way down to the very bottoms of our feet, relaxing as we go. Some call this a progressive muscle relaxation technique. I call it becoming jello. And so, you might start with the eyebrows, the muscles around your forehead and your ears, then your neck, your shoulders, your arms, and on and on. All we are doing is letting go. We are not trying to force some kind of relaxation. We are more not doing than we are doing. And this leads me to my third and final exhortation to you, which is to give your mind permission to wander and journey with me as we go into a savannah in sub-Saharan Africa where the secretary bird resides. There are a couple of places on our beautiful planet that we travel to a little bit more often than the others. It can really feel like 70% of the time we are either traveling all the way to Africa or to Australia, unless of course you already live in Australia and can enjoy that wildlife all the time. There is life teeming everywhere. The amount of life we have here is simply overwhelming. The biodiversity is incredible, and we can simply hear it. Just listen a little closer. In our modern age, it is... ridiculously easy to become distracted. There are pings and jingles, cars, honks, airplanes flying overhead, music blaring out of our speakers on our phones or in our cars, and in this state, it is pretty difficult to even realize that there is a concert playing already, and a concert And... that never stops and hasn't stopped for a very long time. The birds might be the singers, the wind whistles and chimes, the trees rustle like tambourines in response. The point is that the world's greatest orchestras are playing all the time. You can scarcely find a silent place on Earth. So when we hear that silence is golden, in some contexts I would like to disagree. But we are here together to enjoy more than just our special orchestra. We are here to learn about a very special creature, which is the secretary bird, one of the strangest birds on earth. Secretary Bird is their Common name. Their scientific name is Sagittarius serpentarius. Sagittarius and serpentarius are both Latin words, the former meaning archer or bowman, and the latter meaning of snakes or one who handles snakes. And so we can deduce something about this creature without even seeing them. Their scientific name means something like the snake-hunting archer, which to me is a very apt description, and we will learn why in just a moment. These carnivorous birds can be about 3.9 to 4 feet tall, making them a fairly large bird of prey. They will weigh from between 5 to 9 pounds. pounds according to National Geographic which is about 2.2 to 4.2 kilograms. We can recognize this bird by their very long legs, dramatic black crest of feathers that are placed strategically on the back of their head and their bodies will be overlaid in these whitish gray feathers equipped finally with two long black-tipped tail feathers. And the colors on their faces decide to rebel against any kind of stable pattern. Their bare face is usually a orange, yellow, or reddish color. And in case these birds weren't recognizable enough, the top half of those long legs are covered in black feathers. Some articles say it looks like they're wearing a pair of bicycle shorts or something, and I think that is a great description. The lower half is more scaly, and it barely has any feathers at all, at least that are visible to us. And earlier, we learned about what their scientific name means. mainly the snake-hunting archer, but Secretary Bird is their common name. And why are they called this? The short answer is that we don't know for sure, but there are some explanations that are offered. One theory that is offered is that they kind of look like the lawyers' clerks in the 19th century. Apparently, in the 19th century, the clerks of these lawyers wore gray coats and knee-length black pants that looks kind of like this creature. And to bring this image of the secretary bird all together, they would also tuck quill pens behind their ears similar to the coloring of the secretary bird and their head feathers. There is also one other explanation that the English word secretary bird is an import from an Arabic word that means hunter bird. For obvious reasons, I am not going to try to pronounce this word, but just looking at it, I can see how they would sound similar. Like I mentioned earlier, we can't be 100% sure. percent sure if either of these theories are true. There has been ample dispute about this issue, enough to warrant a very humble disposition from us to say we don't know for sure. You can have your opinion though, that's also for sure. Language and nomenclature is incredibly messy and sometimes we can just miss how things start. how they originate, and how they transform. I mean, here we are in the beautiful continent of Africa, a perfect place to illustrate this point. Just how many different languages exist on this continent alone, I'm not sure if Africa has more languages than it does species of animal. that of course might very well be an exaggeration, but I'm only attempting to say that Africa has so many languages, and it can be exceptionally difficult to track the evolution of each and every single word or phrase. Sometimes we just have to shrug our shoulders, and that's okay. But let us move to their hunting and to their diet. This is one of the things that makes this creature so wonderful. Or should I say, oh so wonderful. Secretary birds and caracaras are the only two birds of prey on earth that hunt on the ground. But wait a second, you might say. You might point out that earlier on in our season, we learned about the grey heron, which most certainly seems to hunt on the ground. It seems that this claim can be made because grey herons aren't generally considered birds of prey in the taxonomic or the ecological sense. That category of birds of prey generally refers to hawks, eagles, falcons, owls, secretary birds, of course, and caracaras, or maybe that's pronounced cara-caras. We have to learn about them in the future as well. And so, if you mean birds of prey in this quite narrow sense, then we can give this creature a gold medal, but if what you mean by bird of prey is used in a more general sense so as to mean birds that hunt prey, the secretary bird wouldn't be one of two. Secretary birds eat small rodents, amphibians, and reptiles. These creatures are plentiful in their environment. Remember that they are native to Africa, specifically south of the Sahara. That can take us from eastern Senegal all the way to Somalia and south to South Africa. These birds, when hunting, will work in small groups together or just with a single partner. And they will hunt from just after dawn all the way to the evening, resting only during the very peak hours of heat in the afternoon. and they can capture their personality. prey in a couple of different ways. One is simply by striking with their short and hooked beaks, but what makes this creature so famous is that they use their large feet and sharp claws to stomp their prey to death. And as their scientific name suggests, snakes are their favorite victims. For this particular prey, it makes a lot more sense to use their feet and not their faces or their beaks to attack. The stomping method is a lot easier for them to handle a snake. And they also have a specialized strategy in order to avoid being bitten by these snakes. Snakes, of course, can be very reactive animals. They can very quickly strike in retaliation to a perceived threat or to their prey, I suppose, but in this case, them striking would be a defensive maneuver. But if a snake tries to strike a secretary bird, it will oftentimes end up with a mouth of feathers. That is because the secretary bird has a fairly large wingspan, about seven feet, and they will use their wings as a distraction in order to provoke a strike so that they can go in with a stomp. It's kind of like what a matador does, I imagine. I don't really watch that stuff, but I think you can imagine what I mean, where they are dangling the red cape as a distraction, the secretary bird uses instead their seven-foot wingspan to distract the snakes. It also helps that the secretary bird is equipped on their lower legs with additional protection. The scales here that overlay their lower legs really give them like a scale mail or some kind of armor. This is all to say that this creature is super specialized for snake hunting. In terms of their mating, secretary birds like many other bird species mate for life. And their courtship rituals will have both an air and a ground component, or rather their displays can take place in both the air and on the ground. Starting with in the air, these birds will dive down and then up and down and up, following this pattern over and over again. On the ground, however, their mating displays will be quite similar to that of cranes. You can watch these on YouTube, I am sure, and it is pretty awesome. But the secretary birds will dance around each other with outstretched wings, a quite mesmerizing display. I guess mesmerizing enough that sometimes other secretary birds, completely uninvolved, will join in and... The way these mating pairs grow old together is really cute. It seems quite like what we do as human beings. The secretary bird couple will build a nest of sticks together and use the same nest for years. They will add to it over time and throughout the seasons, kind of like when a couple gets a house together or a place together and they will renovate it over the years or add furniture and decor. I think this is awesome. The female secretary bird will often lay about three blue-green eggs and both the male and the female will be deeply involved in their incubation. It takes about 50 days for the eggs to hatch and both parents will continue this communal role caring for the chicks feeding them regurgitated prey which i suppose would include the snakes that they stomped we are going to be continuing our adventure on patreon where we will learn about how the secretary bird may just exploit wildfires along with some other cool stuff. So... If you would like to continue this adventure, I will see you there. Otherwise, unfortunately, we have run out of time. And now, let us move on to the review portion of the episode. This is where I can interact with all of you special listeners. This is a show for you, and so it makes sense that I can connect with you in some way. We usually read one review from Apple Podcasts and one from Spotify. For today on Apple Podcasts, Shirely Hardy writes, My 10-year-old son and I are both neurodivergent and struggle to get sleep at night. I discovered this podcast and we listened last night. Tonight he asked, to listen to the smart man that talks in slow motion again. Shirely or Shirely Hardy continues, the host doesn't talk in slow motion. He does a calming voice, and we both enjoy the information immensely as well. Thank you for keeping it calm and clean. Thank you so much for this very kind review. I am very happy. I'm happy to keep it both calm and clean because animals are for everybody. And so I made an environment in which everybody can listen. So thank you Shirely Hardy for your and your son's listenership. If you guys want to request an animal, please make sure to write in. And now let's see what's on Spotify. TB on the Ardwolf episode said, once again, an absolutely amazing episode. I did look up the word skibbity, and here is what I discovered. Just for some context here, on the Ardwolf episode, I believe we read a comment from someone named Emily, if my memory is serving me correctly. If not, I apologize. But one listener wrote in and said that the show was skibbity. and me as A 29-year-old guy that tucks his shirt into his jeans had absolutely no idea what that meant. So here, Teresa, or TB on Spotify, is giving me a clarification. So, Teresa continues, Skibbity is a nonsensical slang term primarily used by Generation Alpha uh, and younger internet users. Originating from a viral YouTube animated series called Skibbity Toilet, the word doesn't have a fixed definition. It is highly versatile and can function as a stand-in for cool, bad, or just about anything else as a joke. It's so good to have you back, Teresa. Thank you, Teresa, for combining in your comment both kind words and some fact bombs. Now I know what skibbity means, and it's an interesting definition for a word to have, a nonsensical word that can be used to describe just about anything. Good, bad, cool, that is really interesting. If you are a listener on Apple Podcasts, make sure you are subscribed to the show and be sure to leave a review. I love to hear what you have to say and you can be featured on the show. If you listen instead on Spotify, make sure you have followed the show, you have left a rating and you can comment for me to reply on a future episode. I always love to hear what you have to say and it helps the show grow. As I mentioned in the beginning of the episode, if you would like to help support me and my mission to help make this show for you, you can go to patreon.com slash relaxwithanimalfacts where you can get all kinds of exclusive content including a longer adventure on today's episode, all while supporting me. I can't tell you just how much your support means to me. Your listenership and your support on Patreon. Over the years, we have built such a wonderful community, and unfortunately this space, in terms of monetization, is usually done in ways I simply don't agree with. And so, when you support me on Patreon, you are also supporting me in growing this podcast sustainably and ethically. So thank you so much. If you would like to request an animal for a future episode, you can do so by going to relaxwithanimalfacts.com and going to the Thank you. animal request section. If you would like to reach out to me, Steph Wolf, for any other reason, you can send me an email at relaxwithanimalfacts at gmail.com. One last shout out to George Vlad for the ambiances used in this episode. His work is in the description and you can check him out there. What a wonderful animal we have learned about today. The secretary bird, a bird of prey that can stomp out snakes. I am always stirred to such wonder and awe whenever I contemplate our natural world, our environments and habitats and the animals that live within them, how they interact with each other, how they interact with us. It is truly wonderful. I hope that you have enjoyed this adventure as much as I have, and I look forward to seeing you on the next one with the next animal. Take care.
